About us

Case studies

We hope the case studies provided on this page give you an
insight into the very real difference that education and training
is making to how NHSScotland staff provide a high quality
healthcare service to the people of Scotland.

Case studies

The NES Psychological Interventions Team (PIT) was funded by the Scottish Government Mental Health Division and hosted within NES to help local NHS boards develop the service capacity they need to meet the Scottish Government HEAT targets for Alcohol and Substance Misuse, and Psychological Therapies.
The Psychological Interventions Team (PIT) Motivational Interviewing (MI) training programme was developed to blend recovery-oriented systems of care within alcohol and other drug services with research on effective dissemination of psychological interventions. This emphasises a programme of training and coaching to develop skills over time and ensures the application of high quality, effective MI practice.

The Psychiatry Scottish Training in Academic Research (PsySTAR) programme is a unique combined clinical and academic training opportunity in which participants spend three years out of programme to complete a PhD. The PsySTAR programme was awarded by the Medical Research Foundation to Scottish academic centres, in competition with those all over the UK.

Angela Lindsay is the first pharmacist in Scotland to undertake the NES Dementia Champions programme.
She is one of the lead clinical pharmacists within the Rehabilitation and Assessment Directorate (RAD) in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, based in Glasgow, at the Victoria Infirmary.

Previously, Beverley worked with NES on the Paediatric Emergency Care project. During that time, it became clear to Beverley that the demand for easily accessible education for all staff (particularly those in remote and rural areas) was high, and was only ever going to increase.

Clare Devery has always had an interest in physics and chose to study it at University in Dublin, Ireland. While there, she came to realise the diverse nature of the subject and the numerous career opportunities available to a physics graduate. In fact, of the 30 members of her graduation class, hardly anyone has gone down the same route! During her undergraduate studies she gained an interest in medical physics and decided to pursue a career in this area.

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder training is an online programme which allows access to it from work and from home. I had originally looked briefly at this package at work with a particular child in mind. The training increased my knowledge of the physical anomalies that can occur, such as dysmorphic facial features and "tram-track" ear shape, along with more occasional defects such as cleft palate.

The four of us work within the Community Paediatric service in NHS Lothian, spread across different locations (St John’s Hospital and the Royal Hospital for Sick Children (RHSC) Edinburgh and Midlothian). We provide on-going management of children and young people with Autism Spectrum Disorders, ensuring the provision of appropriate support to these children and their families. We had been carrying out a large number of preliminary assessments and organising appropriate investigations for our patients, who then had to be referred for third tier definitive diagnosis. This can be a lengthy and frustrating process for patients and their families.

Dan Welsh is a trainee clinical scientist employed by NHS Lothian, specialising in radiotherapy physics in the Edinburgh Cancer Centre at the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh. He is following the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine (IPEM) training scheme for medical physicists working towards registration with the Health Care Professions Council as a Clinical Scientist.

After undergraduate training, medical Trainees choosing Scotland as their base from which to become doctors in training means they have selected Foundation Training that immediately recognises that a journey towards excellence needs high quality and efficient signposting and support.

I joined Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary in 2010, with the aim of developing specialist skills in diabetes and endocrinology while maintaining my general medical skills. My current duties involve inpatient and outpatient care as well as acute medicine duties, providing diabetes care both in hospital and at the Diabetes Centre. I am also involved in teaching and supervising students from the University of Highlands and Islands during their training in the Diabetes Centre in Dumfries.